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Ford vs Ferrari.

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I lived through this.  Ford wanted to buy Ferrari.  Enzo was willing to sell but was going to put the stipulation on the sale no Ferrari engine was to be used in an Indy car.  Henry Ford (III?) said screw you Enzo I'll beat you at your game.  Ford developed the GT40 (40 because the car was 40 inches tall) and after a little rocky start wound up winning the 1966 Le Mans in a first, second, and third sweep 

You also have to realize the brutality of this race.  Two drivers per car for 24 hours of racing.  Not 24 hours of driving on the interstate but racing.

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5 minutes ago, GRIZ said:

I lived through this.  Ford wanted to buy Ferrari.  Enzo was willing to sell but was going to put the stipulation on the sale no Ferrari engine was to be used in an Indy car.  Henry Ford (III?) said screw you Enzo I'll beat you at your game.  Ford developed the GT40 (40 because the car was 40 inches tall) and after a little rocky start wound up winning the 1966 Le Mans in a first, second, and third sweep 

You also have to realize the brutality of this race.  Two drivers per car for 24 hours of racing.  Not 24 hours of driving on the interstate but racing.

Will have to find it but recently watched a documentary on the GT40 and the 24 hours of Le Mans... will have to find it.

IIRC, went through a few iterations on it due to not enough rear downforce, etc. 

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10 minutes ago, Maksim said:

Will have to find it but recently watched a documentary on the GT40 and the 24 hours of Le Mans... will have to find it.

IIRC, went through a few iterations on it due to not enough rear downforce, etc. 

The GT40 had teething problems but it showed what American ingenuity can do.

Dan Gurney (most versatile driver ever) had Formula One covered at the same time.  He won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix in his All American Eagle.  The last time before this an American driver in an American car won a Grand Prix was Jimmy Murphy (?) in a Dusenberg in 1921.

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10 minutes ago, Bklynracer said:

Glad they didn't, they would have ruined the name, still might have fine cars, but Enzo would have started another company.

Maybe.  But the GT40 dominated Le Mans through 1969.  Ford proved the GT category wasn't owed by Ferrari.  Keep in mind at the same time Carroll Shelby and his Cobra dominated the production sports car class.

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@GRIZ;

You may or may not be aware of this little fun fact tidbit.  Dan Gurney was a tall man, just over 6ft. tall.  The Ford Mk IV GT40 had very limited headroom.  So the engineers on the Ford race crew cut a hole in the roof of his GT4O to give Gurney some additional headroom and then riveted a shallow domed cap over the hole, that Dan Gurney referred to at "the bubble".   Here is s photo of the GT40 J-Chassis, that Dan Gurney drove at Le Mans, along with A.J. Foyt, showing that minor roof modification.  The car has been restored and is currently on display at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan:

1967 Le Mans winning GT 40 Mk IV

 

I have seen a number of Ford GT40's with historical race provenance at a number of car shows and museums that I have attended and/or visited.  The Ford GT40 pictured below is currently owned by Miles Collier and is part of his magnificent automobile collection at the Revs Institute in Naples, FL.  My wife and I visited and toured the R.I. back in March.

In mid-June 1967, this Ford Mk II-B GT40, which had started life as No. P/1031, a 7-liter Mk II GT40 built at Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough, England, mysteriously changed identity and became No. P/1047.  “There were a lot of shenanigans with the GT40s,” recalls a Ford insider. “At the start of each season a large bond had to be deposited to ensure its appearance on the start line. In the event of an accident that made it impossible to repair a car before it was due to race again, it was less expensive to switch chassis plates with another car than forfeit the money that had been deposited…”  That is what seems to have happened to this GT40, which had already completed a grueling season’s racing in 1966 before being uprated to 1967 Mk II-B specification, with its 427 cubic inch V8 engine modified to deliver greater power, reliability and durability with a “dry-deck” cylinder block and a new induction system.

For the 1967 Le Mans 24-hour race, Ford, who was very anxious to repeat its sensational 1-2-3 victory of 1966, entered a six-car team. There were two Mk II-B GT40’s, (this car), which ran as No. 57, painted light blue, and No. 1047, which was painted gold and ran as No. 5 – and four of the new lighter and more aerodynamic Mk IV “J-cars” with bonded aluminum honeycomb frames. Additionally Ford-France entered a third Mk II-B (No. 1015), while JW Engineering, which had taken over the FAV operation in Slough at the beginning of 1967, ran a 289 cubic inch GT40 and two 305 cubic inch Ford-powered Mirage sports prototypes. This car retired after 18 hours with a seized engine. GT40 No. 1047 had already crashed and would not race again that year.  After a hasty rebuild by Holman & Moody in Charlotte, North Carolina, this car, now fitted with the chassis plate of No. 1047, returned to France and won the 12 Hours at Reims just two weeks after Le Mans. It was the last Mk II – and the only Mk II-B – to win a race.

AVB-AMG

A4DDFD69-DB49-47C7-B994-2D2FB0F4EB7D.jpeg

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@GRIZ:

Also, take a close look at the little checkered flag decal affixed to the front fender of the GT40.  It is a little dig at the Ferrari logo of the prancing horse.  Ford put an arrow through it to signify their goal of winning Le Mans and beating Ferrari.....

AVB-AMG

 

86A0E214-3469-4F6F-AC92-D1BFF127C4AF.jpeg

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On 6/5/2019 at 9:39 PM, GRIZ said:

The last time before this an American driver in an American car won a Grand Prix was Jimmy Murphy (?) in a Dusenberg in 1921.

@GRIZ:

Yes...  That is correct.  The first American automobile that was driven by an American team to win Le Mans was back in 1921, by the team of Jimmy Murphy and Ernie Olsen driving a Duesenberg 183 Grand Prix race car.

The Duesenberg brothers sent four (4), 183 cubic-inch cars equipped with four-wheel brakes, a unique feature for any race car at the time, to France to compete in the first post-war French Grand Prix Race on the roads of Le Mans. Three cars were driven primarily by Jimmy Murphy (the overall winner), Joe Boyer, and Albert Guyot. 

Back in April, I visited and toured the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum.  If you like sports cars, specifically race cars with special provenance, don't miss this hidden gem of a recently opened museum, that I had previously been unaware existed in Philadelphia, PA. The museum's collection consists of approximately 65 racing sports cars that has been assembled over more than 50 years by Dr. Frederick A. Simeone, a retired neurosurgeon and native of Philadelphia.

In his collection is 1 of the 3 Duesenberg 183 Grand Prix race cars built, that competed in that 1921 Le Mans race and also raced and finished 2nd in the 1922 Indianapolis 500. Dr. Simeone found this car at a used-car lot in Kensington, Philadelphia.  Here is a photo of that car that I took at his museum.

AVB-AMG

1921 DUESENBERG 183 GRAND PRIX RACE CAR  This car is 1 of only 3 built. It raced in the 1921 French Grand Prix at Le Mans, and also finished 2nd in the 1922 Indianapolis 500. It was found at a used-car lot in Kensington, Philadelphia. Simeone Foundation Museum Philadelphia.

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A bit OT but there were other innovations going on at that time.  Jim Hall was running the Chapparal (sports/racing) which was the first racing car that had...an adjustable wing.  That wasn't the only innovation.  The Chapparal also had an automatic transmission.  Jim Hall never said what he did to them but all the parts came from stock Chevy Powerglide parts available to any one over the counter.  The Powerglide was Chevy's 2 speed automatic also known as a 1,2 slushbox.

Adjustable wings, parts from a crappy automatic transmission?  Other racers thought Hall was crazy...until the Chapparal started winning races.

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On 6/5/2019 at 9:32 PM, Bklynracer said:

Glad they didn't, they would have ruined the name, still might have fine cars, but Enzo would have started another company.

Enzo had the 64 Monza race cancelled because there was a good chance Farrari would lose, not sure what would hit his ego harder, losing the point series... or losing on his home turf in Italy.  

During this time period, Ferrari was a HUGE sore loser. Im hoping this movie doesn't overlook that fact, they tried a lot of sneaky tricks to beat Ford OFF the track, and it wasn't just ford.  

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